Sprinkler-head.



H. H. BUFFUM.

SPRINKLER HEAD.

APPLlcAnon man Mmm. mi.

Patented Jan. 29, 19H3.

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'Be it known that l, l-lminiaa'r BUFFUM, l ta citizen of the United States, and a resident ol Laconia, in the county oit Belknap and State ot New Hampshire, have invented an llmproveinent in Sprinklerlleads, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawin s, is a speci-v cation, like characters on the rawings representing-lilce parts. v

Illhis invention relates to sprinkler heads lor automatic tlreeirtinguishers and its ob- 'pect is to provide a device el this nature which will be positive in its action and at the salue time sensitive, which may be easily constructed for releasel under any desired conli il ditions and which will preserve its sensitiven ness unimpaired lor/an indenite time.

My invention w'illbe best understood by reference to the iollowing description of the illustrative embodiment thereof shown in 'the accompanying; drawings wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sprinkler head embodying my invention, partly brolren away;

lllig.. 2 is an elevation oli thehead as seen .trom 'the right in Fig. El; Fig. 3 is erspcctive view of the several elements et t e loendingI link disassembled; and

Fig. d is a central longitudinal 'section throueh this linlr on an enlarged scale.

lligs. l and 2, ll have there shown a sprinkler head com risina a nozzle 5 tor attachment to a water conveying system, adapted to bey sealed by a valve or capi. Rising trom the sides ofthe noi/isle member, as best seen in liig. 2, are the arms of a loop-like trame 9, which carries a boss ill opposite the cap 7. 'lhe boss 11 may carry a distributor 13 in the usual manner. Between the boss l1 and the cap7 l is interposed a strut 'for normally maintaining; the lcan l in position against' pressure in the system, but adapted to be reu leased in the well irnown manner when sub jected to a suilcient degree or heat.

`ln the form et my invention shown herein the strut comprises two substantially similar bell crank lever members havin,n arms l5 and il bearing on the cap 'i and t e boss 1l red spectively, the armsljearing pivotallyone on the other at 1% a poirrty somewhat out of the direct line between the bearing; points oi the' arms l5 [and l? all "cap and boss. Plhe two llpeclllcatlon ci Letters Patent.,

Patented dan, @9% with..

application tiled May Ml, 1917. Serial No. ll'i'.

arms and 17 thus form a toggle joint and the tendency of the pressure in the system to which the head is attached is to lift the `cap 9, rocking the two arms on the point 19 and collapsing the toggle. To retain the cap inv f position the other arms of the bell cranks rlhe parts which have been so far de-` scribed are not in themselves new, although they bear a. coperative relationship to the individually novel elements which l shall next describe.

'llhe link 25 may be assembled with the two lever arms 21 and 23 in the position shown in the drawings or the other way up il' desired. Preferably, however, it is faced. as illustrated relatively to the pivotal point 19. 'For convenience in description, hown ever, l shall refer to the parts as upper and lower and inner and outer 'with reference to the position. shown in the drawings, the Word cinner being understood to mean toward the pivotal point 19. These words are any definitive sense. Reterring to the drawings, especially to Referring now more particularly to Figs. 3 and el, the bond 25 comprises three plates secured together by a fusible solder adapted to melt at a relatively low temperature. The inner plate 27 has a lower cross bar v29, permitting it to be hoolred over the end ol lever 21 and is apertured to provide an upper supporting surface 31. Secured to the plate .27 by means of a fusible solder shown in Fig. 4e by a heavy line, is a loclrinp; plate 33,. the preferable form oi" which is seen most clearly in llig. 3. The plate 33 may have 4ears 35 adapted to extend down at either side of the cross bar 29 and thus pro-4 ll. Il@

in link 27 and bear against the surface 31 thereof in the manner clearly illustrated in that figure.

Attached to the upper arm 23 is a plate 41 which has a cross bar 43 adapted to engage the arm and which corresponds in function to the cross bar 29. Herein a single aperture is adapted to form both this cross bar and a supporting surface 45. The plate 41, however, is shorter than the plate 27, which, roughly speaking, is equal in length to the combined length of the plates 37 and 35. As seen in Fig. 3 the plate 27 may have ears 45 similar to the ears 35 of the locking plate 33, which will permit it to lap over the plate 41 fora long distance without 1nterfering with the insertion of the arm 23 of the lever under the cross bar 43.

The plate 41 is assembled with the Plate 27, overlapping the same and lying flat against the outer surface thereof with the apertures adjacent the surfaces 31 and 45 registering as shown in Fig. 4. The plate 41 is preferably secured in thisposition by means -of fusible solder shown in the figure by a heavy line. The offset hook portion 37 of the locking plate 33 extends over the surface 45 and beneath the surface 31 as will be readily understood from inspection of Fig. 4, thus providing a positive connection between the two plates 27 and 41, so long as the locking plate 33 is retained in the position shown. It will be noted that the plate 41 lies insubstantially the same plane as the body of the plate 33 and since, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the plates are of the same width, a compact assembly is provided having but two thicknesses of metal which thicknesses are of substantially the same form and have comparatively smooth surfaces. In other words, there are coniparatively few shoulders on which solid particles and moisture might gather and which would tend to permit rusting of the parts in such a way that their release when the solder was melted would be impeded or prevented.

Referring to Fig. 4 it will be apparent that if the solder between the various parts is loosened the pull on plates 41 and 27 will develop a turning moment o n the hook 37 which, because the body of the same is no longer securely fastened to the plate 27, will rock in a counterelockwise direction and permit the two plates 27 and 41 to fall apart. The fact that the hook 37 terminates substantially flush with the inner surface of the plate 27 without any projecting or overlapping part, permits itto readily disergage from the apertures of the two plates ard thus allows the whole structure. to fall away from the stream o'f water coming from the nozzle 5. Furthermore, since the tendency is for the suspension points of 41 at 43 and 45 and the bearing point of 27 at 29 to move to the same straight line, the plates 27 and 41 will tend to diverge at the top, viewing Fig. 1.

I am aware that prior to my invention it has been proposed to make tension links for use under direct longitudinal'tenson from three plates one of which was a locking plate comparable to the plate 33. In all these structures with which .I am acquainted, however, the locking plate was secured to the plate corresponding to the plate 41, Under these circumstances but one of the soldered joints had a maximum of effectiveness and it was possible to break away the plate corresponding to the plate 27 and unseat it from the flange vof the locking inember corresponding to the hook 37 quite apart' from the condition of the other solder joint. For example, from Fig. 4 it will he seen that if the plate 33 .were not in the position shown the lower pai-t of the plate 27 might be rocked to the left breaking away at its upper part from the plate 41 and the bond thus parted. Under ordinary conditions, of

course, the various joints would be designed to release at one and the same time but teinporary softening of one might cause a slight .creeping or minute particles of rust or the like might cause a slight degree of resistance at one joint and consequently imbalance the effect obtained. By securing the locking plate 33 to the member 27 the shearing strain due to the longitudinal pull on the bond is equally distributed on the two oints and thus the full strength ot' the whole area of soldered joint is rendered eii'ectivc.

From my description just given in which I have briefly referred to a few of the advantages obtained by the design of link shown and especially in connection with the sprinkler head illustrated, it will be clear that not only is it a neat and serviceable device which willl not be likely to deteriorate when in use by rusting of the parts, but is one in which each element acts with the maximum effectiveness and wherein the valve is securely held in position until the time for release comes, which release is sharply effective.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent iS;-

1. In a sprinkler head having a valve and frame, retaining means for the valve comprising levers havingl arms engaging valve and frame which coperativcly form a toggle and also having relatively divergent retaining arms and a bond between said latter arms comprising an inner plate connected to one arm, an outer locking plate secured to said first mentioned plate by fusible solder and having a hook-like extension which has a bill extended substan' tially at right angles entering and terminally supported by said first plate and ar1- other plate connected to the other arm hav-` izo tatami ing aicrossbar engaging and suspended by said extension, said first mentioned plate engaging said last mentioned plate at theinner side thereof and supporting the same throughout the major portion of its length.

2. In a sprinkler head having a valve and frame, retaining means for the valve comprising levers having arms engaging valve and frame which coperatively form a toggle and also having relatively divergent retaining arms, an outer link connected to one retaining arm comprising two substantially coplanar plates having a hook and eye connection and an inner plate connected to the other arm lapping on and secured by means of fusible colder to both outer plates of the link throughout,substantially equal lengths, said inner plate having a transverse portion engaging the hook which hook terminates substantially 'flush with the inner surface of the plate.

3. A device of the class described comprising, in combination, a plate, a second plate lapping on the first, the two plates having registering apertures, a locking' plate having a fiat body portion applied to said first mentioned plate and lying substantially in the plane of the second plate and also having an offset hook portion entering through said registerine` apertures and fusible solder securing together said parts, said several plates being of equal Width and forming a compact assembly comprising two thicknesses of metal of substantially equivalent form and having comparatively smooth surfaces.

4. A device of the class described comprising a plate havingengaging means, a

locking plate secured to said first mentioned stantially right angles entering, and terminally supported by said rst plate, another plate substantially coplanar with said lockingplate having engaging means and alf" having a cross bar engaging and suspended by said extension, the. first mentioned plate extending over the last mentioned plateand secured thereto by fusible solder throughout a substantial area.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

HERBERT H. BUFFUM. 

